Automobile license plate or sign



Feb. 21, 1933. J. P. MEEHAN 1,898,379

AUTOMOBILE LICENSE PLATE OR SI GN Filed July 5, 1952 Patented F eb. 21,1933 JOHN P. MEEHAN, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA AUTOMOBILE LICENSE PLATEOR SIGN Application filed July 5, 1932. Serial No. 620,869.

This invention relates to signs and particularly signs formed of metalplates, for example, automobile license plates.

The general object of the invention is to produce a sign or licenseplate, the legends or characters on which can be read with ease, but soconstructed as toenable contrast in colors on the plate to be attainedby a single color application.

One of the objects of the invention is to produce a plate in which aconsiderable area of the plate is uncoated, and to provide a con- Lstruction for the plate which will produce a proving the legibility ofthe sign when contrast effect for the name of the state and also for thelicense number, the general purpose being to produce a striking effectimusing a metal plate having a shiny surface.

A further object of the invention is to produce a sign of this kind inwhich a single painting or coating operation for the plate willsimultaneously produce a contrast on the surface of the plate for raisedand sunk characters, thereby producing a highly efficient sign withoutnecessitating the use of more than one colored pigment or paint inproducing the sign.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists of novel parts and combinations of parts to bedescribed hereinafter, all of which contributeto produce an efficientautomobile license plate or sign.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the followingspecification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a front elevation of an automobile licenseplate embodying my invention; v

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken throughthe plate on the line 2-2of Figure l; a portion of this view is broken away;

' Figure 3 is a vertical section through the plate taken about on theline 33 of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view indicating themeans that can be employed for effecting Referring more particularly tothe parts,

1 indicates the body of the license plate, formed of an uncoated shinymetal plate such as copper. On a portion of this plate, for example theupper portion, a legend 2 is formed of elevated characters formed byembossing the plate from its under side, thereby dicating the name ofthe state and the date, for example Arizona 1933.

In addition to this, the plate is formed with an elevated field 3, theelevation of which is of the characters that form the legend 2 on theplate. The license number,,for example -F47V as indicated, is formed bysinking or depressing areas 4 which produce these letters and numbers.After the body has been treated in this way, the field 3 and the legend2 are coated with paint or pigment contrasting with the shiny face ofthe plate. This is preferably accomplished by placing the plates faceuppermost on a continuously driven belt 5 which carries the plates undera painting roller 6 coated with the paint or pigment. The pigmentapplies itself uniformly to the legend and to the field 3 because themetal forming the legend and 80 the field have the same elevation withrespect to the plane of the body of'the plate.

A license plate or sign constructed in this way has many advantages overa plate formed with contrasting paints because even if the paint becomesdulled a very high contrast can be maintained by simply rubbing orpolishing the exposed surface of the body of the plate. will have goodlegibility throughout the life of the plate. At night, the charactersthat form the license number reflect the light and make the licenseplate quite easily read.

It is understood that the embodiment of 95 the invention describedherein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, andI do not wish to be limited in the practice of my invention, nor in myclaims to the particular embodimentset forth.

producing elevated characters inpreferably the same as the elevationplate In this Way, the characters What I claim is:

1. An automobile license plate having a body of uncoated metal, saidbody having elevated characters forming a legend indi- 5 cating the nameof the state and the year of the license plate, said plate furtherhaving an elevated field with depressed characters indicating thelicense number, the elevated characters and the said field beingsubstantially in the same plane to enable the same to contactsimultaneously With a color applying roller, to apply a colored coatingcontrasting with the body of the plate.

2. A sign formed of a plate having a body of uncoated shiny metal, saidbody having elevated relatively small characters embossed in the platefrom below and forming a legend, said plate further having a fieldelevated to the same level as the relatively small characters, saidfield having relatively large depressed characters forming a secondlegend; the elevated characters and the said field having a coatingcontrasting With the color of the metal.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 27 day of June, 1932.

JOHN P. MEEHAN.

